This website uses Google Analytics to collect visitor data through the use of cookies. By continuing to access this site you will be agreeing to the collection of this data. For information on how to opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites, please visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Musee Picasso

The Musee Picasso or Picasso Museum is located in the Hotel Sale, an elegant building that was originally constructed between 1656 and 1659 for Pierre Aubert, Lord of Fontenay. Located on the rue de Thorigny, in the Marais district of Paris. The Hotel Sale is now considered to be one of the finest historic houses in the district, in 1671, it was home to the Embassy of the Republic of Venice. The building was acquired by the nation after the French revolution. In 1964 the building came directly under the control of the city of Paris, and is now home to the largest collection of Picasso’s work, in the world. Using the metro system, the museum is a short walk from both Saint Paul and Chemin Vert stations, just follow the signposts when you leave the station. Buses that stop very close to the Picasso Museum are numbers 29, 96, 69 and 75.

Pablo Picasso was born in 1881 and started studying art in 1895. During his life he created many works of art including paintings, sculptures, drawings, and ceramics. After his death in 1973, The collection passed to the French State in lieu of death duties. And it is these works of art that are the basis of the collection that can be seen today.

In the collection are some superb Blue and Rose Period paintings and a particularly stunning academic portrait of Olga in an Armchair, 1917. You then progress on to some choice pieces of Cubist art, which include the artists early essays into the new style where the depicted figures are still easily discernible to the untrained eye, and which, with hindsight, bear striking resemblance to early Futurism.

Among the many paintings, you will find a 1901 self portrait, the 1906 two brothers and self portrait, the 1931 woman in a red armchair and the 1937 portrait of Dora Moor. The collection is organized chronologically and visitors are guided through the different periods in Picasso’s artistic development. Picasso's own art collection is also based here and includes sketches by Giorgio de Chirico and Degas, plus paintings by Corot, Cezanne, Chardin, Renoir, and Matisse.